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Still Hunt, Central Park

Still Hunt, Central Park

  • Date: 1881-1883
  • Sculptor: Edward Kemeys
  • Medium & size: Bronze, over lifesize, on a boulder.
  • Location: Central Park, East Drive at 76th St., on the west side of the street, high on a hill.
Edward Kemeys, Still Hunt, 1881-1883. Central Park, New York. Photo copyright © 2019 Dianne L. Durante

Crouched on a rock ten feet above the East Drive, this fierce feline seems to be considering which of the joggers and bicyclists to pounce on. It’s been considering that since the 1880s, when a group of “modest gentlemen” – they didn’t want their names revealed – commissioned Edward Kemeys to create Still Hunt for Central Park.

Kemeys (1843-1907), the first American to specialize in sculpting animals, got his start in Central Park. Before 1858, the site was full of shanties, rocks, and wild vegetation. Laborers by the thousands were hired to implement the Greensward Plan by Olmsted and Vaux, and later to maintain the park. Kemeys was an axeman.

Currier & Ives print of the construction of Central Park, 1859

Kemeys spent his free time at the menagerie, the motley collection of animals housed in and around the Arsenal. (See my posts on the Arsenal and Tigress and Cubs.) One day Kemeys saw someone sculpting a likeness of one of the animals and thought, “I can do that!” And he did.

When this sculpture was unveiled in 1883, mountain lions had long vanished from Manhattan. And like Native Americans (see Indian Hunter), they had a nostalgic appeal once they offered no threat. Kemeys made frequent trips to the frontier to study wild animals in their habitats. It gave him a skill at representing them that couldn’t be matched by those who only saw caged or stuffed animals. He produced a dozen animal sculptures for the Columbian Exposition in 1893. Among them were his most famous works: two lions that were later cast in bronze and placed in front of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Edward Kemeys, Lions, 1893? Art Institute of Chicago. Photo: Carol Highsmith / Library of Congress.
Edward Kemeys, Still Hunt, 1881-1883. Central Park, New York. Photo copyright © 2019 Dianne L. Durante

More

  • Many of Kemeys’s works are at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and the Chicago Historical Society. For more on the dedication of Still Hunt, see the Daytonian in Manhattan post.
  • For more on Central Park in the 1850s-1870s, see my book Central Park: The Early Years.
  • For early images of Central Park, see the pages on this site for through 1860, 1861-1865, and 1866-1870.
  • In Getting More Enjoyment from Sculpture You Love, I demonstrate a method for looking at sculptures in detail, in depth, and on your own. Learn to enjoy your favorite sculptures more, and find new favorites. Available on Amazon in print and Kindle formats. More here.
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